News from Around the Net: 16-DEC-2011

By Game Knight, on December 16th, 2011

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Beware… The holidays are fast approaching!

For those of you keeping track, it’s 9 days until St. Nick slides down chimneys worldwide and shares joy with good little girls and boys. And apparently Krampus is by him side, ying to Santa‘s yang, delivering warnings and coal to that *other* list. It’s amazing that sled of theirs doesn’t get arrested for consuming too much “leaded” eggnog and breaking physical laws left and right!

That said, I know you’re not here to read while I wax philosophically about Santa’s alcoholic eggnog-induced trips around the world. You’re here to check out what’s new and interesting in the world of games! And on that note, I’m trying something new this week. I’ll be focusing on the top 3-5 items in each major category and then including a colorful grid of all the other articles I gathered during the week. Change isn’t always well received and I want to know what you think, whether it’s good or bad news.

Ryan Macklin had a different message this week, but one that’s just as important for those of us who are shy when we should be direct: Ask for Things. I don’t do this enough and am always shocked when I do to find that [gasp] sometimes the world says “yes!”

Games and Gaming

(Random Table) Chris at Rolang’s Creeping Room has done a few great posts this week centered on random tables. One was a Table of Wizard Obsessions, on which I rolled… Apparently my wizard believes himself to be the friendly magical protector of elves and forms of government. I wonder if he’s part of the 1%? The other table finally answers why monsters wander. My favorites on this one are (1) “visiting relatives” and (13) “lost, totally lost.” I think I’ll use this in my next campaign! Or maybe you’re looking for some inspiration for a new dungeon? Check out the Megadungeon Origins Table! My dungeon is a prison that used to be the city of undead… Sounds like many of the Skyrim dungeons!

After all the graveyard-related content created by the Grumpy Celt at Nevermet Press’ blog, it’s nice to see him creating some more lively articles of late. Oroborus University: Inn without End provides an overview of the location used for training future innkeepers their trade, but something just isn’t right with some areas on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. The Oroborus hits me a bit like the hotel room in John Cusack‘s 1408 – creepy…

Publisher News

If you’re the GM and are lucky enough to hold gaming sessions at your house, there’s a new Kickstarter project you might want to check out. Realm Coins aims to create actual metal coins that you can use at your game table! Now I love props, but I’m not sure I want thousands of coins to lug around with me… That said, they’re already 4/5 of the way to their $5000 goal! I wish them the best of luck!

When I heard about the Dungeonmorph Dice project back in April, I thought it was a very cool idea – merging dice and the geomorph map generator into one quick tool. So I was equally excited when I heard
that the dice are now ready along with a deck of cards, a font, and even battlemats employing the designs. Easiest holiday shopping for myself I’ve done in a while…

Rite Publishing has just released The Secrets of Forgotten Magic Items for Pathfinder, featuring magic creation feats, dozens of items, a monster, and tons more. I love the concept of beefing up PC-created magic items!

Purple Duck Games and author David Ross have teamed up to create Random Encounters Remastered, sure to generate some GM interest. Instead of simple random encounter tables, this guide will help you create an entire encounter, with terrain, NPCs, and monsters.

Crafty Games just released the Mistborn Adventure Game based on the novels of Brandon Sanderson with an entirely new system… The build-up to this release has been quite impressive – any early impressions out there?

And if a bit of dark fiction is up your alley, check out Strangeness in the Proportion from author Joshua Alan Doetsch, set in the new World of Darkness from White Wolf!

Tools

The folks at Skyland Games introduced us to something I had no clue was out – iOS apps for Paizo’s Critical Hit and Critical Fumble decks! Apparently iCrit and iFumble are available for $1.99 a piece in the iTunes app store, which means they’re cheaper than the decks in addition to the fact that they added sound effects!